Real-Estaters Deliver the Bad News: “The Market Has Us Surrounded.”

The photo above is of the planned $300-million “sophisticated, euro-urban” Glen at Preston Hollow development at Walnut Hill Lane and N. Central Expressway, which was announced exactly one year ago and which, at present, looks like a lunar landscape dotted with the random bulldozer and tree. Now, Provident Realty never said the thing would be done quickly; its November 9, 2007, press release said, look, “The first phase of construction at The Glen will be complete by mid-2010.” Still, it’s nearly 2009 and no sign yet of “100 luxury single-family homes,” the “single 100,000 square foot mid-rise office building” or “a walking village with 175,000 square feet of retail and restaurants at street level and up to 1,100 multi-family units located primarily above the commercial spaces.” Perhaps someone should open a dune-buggy rental in the meantime.

But times, of course, are tight, and fast-track projects have slowed. There are several chunks of the city — on Northwest Highway east of Central and near Bachman Lake, for starters — that look like the country; prairie’s clearly the new urban. Such was the discussion yesterday at the seventh annual RealShare Dallas at the Intercontinental Hotel, where a few hundred folks talked about the state of real estate. GlobeSt.com was there, gathering the bad news but hoping for the best. And offering this advice: “Until the billions sitting on the sidelines begin to move … work hard, keep a positive attitude and keep building relationships.” –Robert Wilonsky